Sun. May 22, 2016 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM 102 (1F)

Convener:*Toshiyuki Hibiya(Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo), Louis St Laurent(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Ren-Chieh Lien(Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington), Chair:Louis St Laurent(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Ocean mixing plays crucial roles both in the open and coastal ocean, affecting key physical, biological and chemical processes. Mixing in the upper ocean influences the sea surface temperature and hence air-sea interactions which impact global climate change, while mixing in the deep ocean maintains abyssal stratification of the world's oceans and impacts the global overturning circulation. In coastal oceans, mixing modulates the transport and dispersal of dissolved and suspended materials including pollutants and nutrients. Planktonic ecosystems are controlled by nutrient pumping associated with ocean mixing.
Through recent development of observation technology such as the improvement of micro- and multi-scale profilers, innovation of ocean microstructure gliders and autonomous microstructure profilers, field observations of ocean mixing processes extend much deeper and wider than ever before. The accumulated knowledge of the observed features has stimulated theoretical and modeling studies of ocean mixing processes such as internal wave-wave interactions and associated energy cascade to dissipation scales as well as re-formulation of existing mixing parameterizations to be incorporated into the global ocean circulation models.
In this session, contributors are encouraged to present recent findings of ocean mixing obtained from field observations as well as theoretical, numerical and laboratory studies. Through the detailed discussions, we would like to confirm how far our understanding of the ocean mixing processes has advanced, defining the new frontier of ocean mixing research to be tackled in the next decade. The session encompasses a wide variety of coastal and open ocean mixing processes; from the surface through the interior to the near boundary benthic mixing, including the roles of mixing in the biological processes and productivity of the ocean.